Lawyer argues Mountie who had work sex with subordinate shouldn't be demoted

RCMP adjudicators found Staff Sgt. Travis Pearson guilty of having sex with Const. Susan Gastaldo in a police car during work hours and exchanging intimate messages via an RCMP BlackBerry in 2009, while Gastaldo worked for Pearson in the “Special O” surveillance unit. But they rejected Gastaldo’s claims that she was raped and coerced into an affair with Pearson. They will now decide what punishment Pearson should receive.

Photograph by: Nick Procaylo - PNG Files
, The Province

A high-ranking B.C. Mountie who disgraced the force by having on-the-job sex with his subordinate has suffered gravely from “false accusations” of rape and should return to work with no demotion, a sanction hearing was told today.

Const. Susan Gastaldo and Staff Sgt. Travis Pearson were found guilty of having sex in a police car during work hours and exchanging intimate messages via an RCMP BlackBerry in 2009, while Gastaldo worked for Pearson in the “Special O” surveillance unit in the Lower Mainland.

Last year a board of RCMP adjudicators rejected Gastaldo’s claims that she was raped and coerced into an affair with Pearson, allegedly due to her fragile psychological state and his implied threats and persistence.

The board ruled the relationship consensual and rejected a proposed sanction of 10 days’ forfeiture of pay for Pearson and seven days for Gastaldo.

Gastaldo allegedly slandered and falsely accused Pearson and therefore could potentially be dismissed, the board said. She will learn her fate in late February.

For Pearson, the board said, demotion might be an applicable punishment for having sex with a subordinate who was returning to work from sick leave under his supervision.

Boyd said Pearson has suffered a great deal from “false accusations” and “lopsided” press reporting of his case. Pearson has been victimized by press attention and became angry and depressed at his treatment, at times fearing to leave his home unless wearing a disguise, Boyd claimed.

Pearson’s counsel said he should not be sanctioned for abusing his power because an RCMP investigator pursued such charges in a 2009 professional standards probe, but the RCMP’s conduct prosecutor in 2010 elected not to accept “misuse of authority” charges.

“That allegation is not chargeable, it has been timed out, for reasons I’m not privy to,” said Const. James Rowland. “How can that allegation be used now to demote Travis Pearson? It is unfair.”

Pearson’s consensual affair with a subordinate is a “grey area” which the RCMP has no clear policy on, Rowland said.

“We have determined there was no rape . . . there was no manipulation,” Rowland said. “It comes down to what we do with the grey area.”

Rowland said the board demoting Pearson to sergeant at an estimated pay cut of $8,375 annually for the rest of his career would be “an incredibly steep price to pay.”

Conduct prosecutor Cpl. Gregory Rose said he agrees with much of Rowland’s argument. Forfeiture of 10 days pay at about $3,900 in pay lost, is an appropriate punishment, Rose said.

The board will return with a ruling Thursday.

Following the board’s ruling last year, The Province reported that a number of Pearson’s subordinates in Special “O” had made official complaints to RCMP management about his leadership in early 2009, before he was removed from his leadership position in August 2009, when Gastaldo launched a complaint against him.

Officers told The Province that Pearson was accused of making questionable purchases, including allegedly giving inappropriate perks to a girlfriend who was not qualified for her high security position. Pearson brought the girlfriend onto the unit against the advice of others.

The RCMP has not commented on the allegations made by Pearson’s subordinates in The Province’s report.

The girlfriend, identified as D.B., surfaced in the Gastaldo hearing in testimony that seemed to corroborate some of Gastaldo’s claims. The woman’s allegations, that Pearson sexually assaulted and harassed her, were not proven and the board did not rule on their veracity. Pearson strongly denied the woman’s claims.

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RCMP adjudicators found Staff Sgt. Travis Pearson guilty of having sex with Const. Susan Gastaldo in a police car during work hours and exchanging intimate messages via an RCMP BlackBerry in 2009, while Gastaldo worked for Pearson in the “Special O” surveillance unit. But they rejected Gastaldo’s claims that she was raped and coerced into an affair with Pearson. They will now decide what punishment Pearson should receive.

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